Progress is continuing on the various workstreams which are designed to improve the city centre and the beach as part of Masterplans for the areas, a committee heard yesterday.
Aberdeen City Council’s Full Council agreed several recommendations for moving the projects forwards along with updates for what stages they are at.
Updates were provided on Union Street buildings condition, the Belmont Street Quarter, and the new Aberdeen Market.
The once-in-a-generation exciting transformative regeneration of Aberdeen’s city centre, former market, and beachfront was given the go-ahead at a council committee meeting in November. The multi-million projects include the improvements to the city centre, the creation of a new city market, and the revitalisation of the beach area, with plans for a pier, new green hub, and a state-of-the-art sports area which could include a new stadium for Aberdeen FC.
Council Leader Councillor Jenny Laing said: “It is fantastic to hear of the progress of these multi-million-pound projects which will create a more vibrant and people-friendly city centre and an open and more accessible beachfront with new facilities.
“These projects are truly transformative for the city centre and the beach area and show the depth and breadth of our ambition as a city and that exciting changes are happening in Aberdeen.”
City Growth and Resources convener Councillor Ryan Houghton said: “The plans will help to heal the city from the economic damage inflicted by COVID-19 by breathing new life into our city centre, boosting job creation, and promoting a wealth of opportunities to allow businesses and traders to thrive.
“They will bring real, positive change for the people of Aberdeen, and we look forward to hearing more updates in the next few months as well as continuing to engage with the people who live, work, and visit the city centre and beach areas.”
The report to committee yesterday highlighted extensive stakeholder engagement work would continue for all projects, particularly with the Disabled Equity Partnership, local schools and youth groups, community councils, and other relevant transport groups.
For the Union Street buildings condition, the Full Council agreed Aberdeen City Council will engage with property owners to investigate potential grant funding or a ‘one stop’ service to cover professional services needed to implement the improvement works, and also to investigate to create a new fund to enable shopfront replacements to be carried out that do not need to conform to the strict criteria set for traditional shopfronts.
Buildings with a poor rating and those in Aberdeen City Council ownership are to be targeted as test projects and this would be carried out and coordinated in conjunction with streetscape improvements to Union Street Central.
The next stage is to develop a plan for implementation of improvement works and engage with property owners, with Zone B (Union Street Central Market Street-Bridge Street) to be prioritised with a view to action to fit in with the delivery timetable for the new Aberdeen Market completion. This will include preparing a detailed specification for appropriate façade stone cleaning and determining means to simplify procedures for statutory consents.
Another aspect of the project is to identify the full range of intervention measures to repopulate vacant units in Union Street to Full Business case including further assessment of potential non-retail uses.
For the Belmont Street Quarter, a detailed design is to be developed and implemented, and accessible parking spaces in Back Wynd are to be introduced on a trial basis at the earliest opportunity, and temporary accessibility ramps to the south side of Union Street Central are also to be built.
For the new Aberdeen Market, the report said design development work on the project is progressing well at this time and the marketing process to identify a development partner is also progressing with site visits having been held with a number of interested parties.
For the Beach Masterplan, a report to committee gave updates of the stages of the various projects, and reports on progress of these are to be given at the June 2022 meeting of Full Council. These include:
Several projects are to progress to Full Business Case – a new play park, urban park, sports area and pump track; an events park including a new amphitheatre, events field, gateway building and hub building; landscaping: landscape mounding; Broadhill: public realm and landscaping; reconfigured beach landscaping.
Several projects are to outline business case - beach pavilion building, new canopy features, the Beach Ballroom plaza, Broadhill structures, pedestrian spine, Beach Boulevard, and surf village.
Several long-term items are to work to an outline business case - Beach Ballroom; new stadium, new leisure facility, boardwalk, new slipway, and energy centre.
Progression to an Outline Business Case was also agreed to improve the connectivity between the city centre and beach and report back progress to the June 2022 Full Council meeting.